What is an ANSI bomb?
An “ANSI bomb” is a sequence of characters, usually embedded in a text file, that reprograms various keyboard functions of computers with ANSI console (screen and keyboard) drivers. In theory a special sequence of characters could have been included in this FAQ sheet to reprogram your Enter key to issue the command “format c:” with a return character tacked on the end. Such a possibility however, need not translate into much of a threat. It is rare for modern software to require the computer it runs on to have an ANSI console, so few PCs or other machines should load ANSI drivers. Also, few people use software that simply “types” output to the terminal device, so such an ANSI bomb in an e-mail or News posting would most likely not reprogram your keyboard anyway. Further, although FORMAT C: may be catastrophic under certain versions of DOS, it won’t hurt Macintoshes and would probably have very unexpected, or no, effects on other systems. If you are at all worried about the possibility
